1. Seven years at $122 million is a good deal for Wright, and a better deal for the Mets.

Including the $16 million Wright will be paid in 2013 (on an option the Mets previously picked up), his new deal is considered to be worth $138 million over eight years. That beats Johan Santana's contract by half a million for the largest in club history. It also gives the appearance that getting the largest deal in club history mattered to Wright.

2. Wright should not be accused of being greedy.

If he had waited to become a free agent next year, he easily could have fetched $20 million a year. His deal averages $17.25 million per.

3. Mets fans can feel encouraged.

At least, they can feel less discouraged than at any time since ownership's involvement in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme threatened to crash the franchise. The Mets have more financial worries than any large-market team should, but the Wright commitment proves they can move forward. Give Wright credit, too, for taking a little less to allow the Mets a little more to spend on other players.

As with Wright, the Mets already have picked up their 2013 option for Dickey, 2012 NL Cy Young Award winner. Like Wright, Dickey says he wants to stay in New York.

That is about where their similarities end, though. Dickey's option will pay him $5 million ($11 million less than Wright's). Dickey is 38, nearly eight years older than Wright.

Dickey reportedly is agreeable to a two-year deal, which means extending him should cost somewhere in the $30 million range — far less than what the Mets have committed to Wright.

The Mets, however, also have to consider trading Dickey. His value has reached its zenith and because the Mets remain in rebuilding mode, trading him would help their future far more than keeping him.

5. Scott Boras is smiling.

As more teams lock up their best players, fewer elite players will become free agents. Because Boras is the rare agent who prefers his clients to wait their six years and become free agents, his guys figure to hog the market more than ever in coming years.